I've been chipping away at the AZT for the past two years, and the opportunity for one last section this year has come up. I'm looking at Pine/HWY 87 (mile 328 SOBO) south to HWY 87 (mile 402 SOBO). The AZT website lists each of the passages (21-25) in this stretch as "all year," and it looks like the high temps in Payson aren't exceeding mid 80's right now. I also don't see any active wildfires in the area. Water looks thin, but I'm assuming there is water at the East Verde River / LF Ranch, and I'm comfortable carrying 8 liters for the remaining 50 miles if needed.

Long story short, I like to do my homework, and Arizona in August seems potentially ill-advised, especially for such a notoriously remote section. Given the above information, I feel pretty confident in my ability to cover these miles, but am I missing anything? Should I expect every 0 to 2 reliability water source to be bone dry?

Really appreciate any information on this section! Thanks in advance!

-Jeff